“The school needed an assistant field hockey coach, so I said why not, and I never looked back,” said field hockey Coach Dave Richardson.

This is the mindset that has brought Richardson to reach his 100th career win after coaching field hockey at South for 14 years. 

Richardson achieved his 100th career win on Sept. 18, in a home game against Whitfield. South won the game 2-0 with goals scored by junior Hannah Truesdell and senior Audrey McDonough. The team has since ended their season with a winning record of 9-8-2. 

Richardson said that although he has had many successes throughout his career, reaching his 100th win was the highlight of his career.

“The 100th win has been the highlight,”  Richardson said. “We’ve gone to the sweet 16 and the elite 8 in the playoffs, but I think just the idea of consistent winning over a period of time, and having groups of kids that last for four years is really my success.”

Richardson said he was confident that he would be able to reach this goal during the 2024 season.

“I was expecting to meet my 100th win this year because the group of seniors that we have, have been with us for four solid years,” Richardson said. “The team has solid core players that I knew would help get us the wins we needed.”

Strong seniors were not the only thing that has led the team to reaching Richardson’s 100th win. Senior Ellen Piotraschke also believes the positive environment that Richardson has built around the team has helped them have such a successful season.

“Rich helps build a positive environment by making sure not everything is about field hockey,” Piotraschke said. “We do fun activities together as a team, and you can tell he really believes in team bonding. I think when our team is closer, we perform better on the field.”

In a world where high school sports can be very stressful and coaches can often help add to that pressure, players like freshman Libby McDonough said they are very thankful for how Richardson handles the team.

“Rich has been one of my favorite coaches of all time, and I appreciate everything he has done for the team,” McDonough said. “He makes sure that at the end of the day, we feel good about ourselves and how we play.”

Going into the game against Whitfield, the team knew that the 100th win was at stake, and that helped give the team the confidence they needed to secure a win, according to McDonough.

“I think knowing it could be the 100th win contributed to how we played,” McDonough said. ”Rich has helped the team succeed and we really wanted to help him succeed.”

100 career wins is a big milestone, and the team was very excited to celebrate Richardson and this exciting achievement, according to junior Emily Muchnick. 

“We went to El Nopal as a team, Rich made us shirts, and my grandma made brownies to celebrate him,” Muchnick said. ”He is always celebrating our achievements, so we wanted to celebrate him.” 

Despite all of Richardson’s success, he said coaching field hockey was not something he had ever expected to do. Before coming to South, Richardson taught in Phoenix, Arizona where he coached basketball and baseball.

“When I moved here in 2009 I wanted to coach, but there wasn’t anything available in the sports I normally coached, so I thought I’d give field hockey a try,” Richardson said.

Field hockey is not the only sport Richardson is involved with at South. Richardson also helps coach South’s girls’ lacrosse team.

“I started coaching field hockey here first, and then I started coaching women’s lacrosse too,” Richardson said. “I think helping South create quality women’s sports programs is one of the most important things to drive kids here to be successful”.

According to Muchnick, the team’s mantra of “we are smarter than we think, braver than we feel, stronger than we seem, and can do great things” has helped guide the team to so much success this season.

“We say it before every game and it helps us get into the right mindset to win games,” Muchnick said.

Richardson said he is hoping to finish their season strong and continue bringing in more wins.

“Honestly with this team, the sky’s the limit. I can’t wait to see where these ladies are able to take the team,” he said.